Water quality drives land buys

Subheadline:

‘We are a water-based county if ever there was one.’

An aerial photograph of the mouth of the May River shows how much of Beaufort County is covered in water.
-Beaufort County Open Land Trust/Special to Bluffton Today

Beaufort County will focus its Rural and Critical Lands Program purchases on regions based on watershed drainage.-Beaufort County Open Land Trust/Special to Bluffton Today

An aerial view of the Okatie River headwaters illustrates the intertwined relationship of water and land in Beaufort County.
-Beaufort County Open Land Trust/Special to Bluffton Today

Pinckney Point, which extends into the already impaired Okatie River, is targeted for development.-Beaufort County Open Land Trust/Special to Bluffton Today

Watershed protection will be the main focus of Beaufort County's Rural and Critical Lands Program as it spends the money left from a 2006 bond referendum.

The program is being managed by the Beaufort County Open Land Trust. The new strategy was outlined for the county's Rural and Critical Lands Preservation Board last week by Garrett Budds, the trust's director of land protection.

Water quality "has become a common theme within the county and its municipalities," Budds said.

"And it makes a lot of sense. We are a water-based county if ever there was one," he said.

As such, there are too many watersheds in and around Beaufort County to target each one individually, Budds told the board.

So the Open Land Trust is "combining watersheds into regional zones," he said.

"It's conceptual, we're still playing with the lines as far as grouping watersheds together," he said.

Budds said maps of seven management regions will be completed within a month and presented to the board one at a time.

"It's the perfect way to start the conversation for an updated greenprint in 2011," he said.

The county's purchases of environmentally sensitive parcels of land have been guided since a $40 million bond referendum in 2006 by a "greenprint" map.

County officials decided in June not to pursue voter approval of another bond referendum in November, setting their sights on the 2012 general election instead.

"We've been working for the last couple of months on a model for spending the remaining money prior to a 2012 bond referendum," Budds said.

"We've got a year and a half left... we have to make some strategic decisions," he said.

"The greenprint is somewhat dated, but a wonderful starting point for the watershed approach," he said.

Anne Bluntzer, executive director of the Open Land Trust, said the Rural and Critical Lands Program budget stands at about $15 million, with about $5 million committed to purchases that should close within the next month.

One is Summerland Plantation, about 50 acres on U.S. 170 across from the proposed Sembler shopping mall.

"It was truly critical," she said, because of commercial zoning on the highway frontage and its proximity to the Okatie River headwaters.

A $2.5 million purchase price was negotiated with landowner Wilson Sanders, she said.

Another parcel is the 300-acre Henry Farms fronting U.S. 21 on St. Helena Island.

Owner Allen Henry agreed to sell the development rights to the county for about $3 million.

The purchases of both the Sanders and Henry properties are expected to close within a month.

"We'll be proposing three new properties in November," Bluntzer said. "And we hope to bring forward some big projects to build up momentum for a bond referendum in 2012."

About the Rural and Critical Lands Program

The Rural and Critical Land Preservation Program enables the Beaufort County Council to acquire property for conservation, parks, buffers, scenic vistas and preservation of valuable economic and natural resources, according to the county website. Rural and critical land acquisitions to date have prevented hundreds of acres from being developed.

The program is funded by a $50 million bond referendum that passed by more than 2 to 1 in 2006.

The Beaufort County Open Land Trust has a $144,000, one-year contract to advise the county on rural and critical land purchases. The Open Land Trust replaced Conservation Consulting Co. in that role in July.

Land purchases are guided by a "Greenprint" map, developed by TPL in 2003 and updated in 2006, which was funded by a grant from the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation.